


Eye of the Hurricane

by lostcrusades



Series: Undertow [2]
Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Anxiety, Boats and Ships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Maritime AU, Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 04:33:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16381475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostcrusades/pseuds/lostcrusades
Summary: After a month at sea, Dan begins to panic. He gets some comfort from an unexpected source.





	Eye of the Hurricane

**Author's Note:**

> beta-ed by jay <3

Ship life was… boring, to say the least. Now a good month into his journey as a crewman, Dan was bored. Sure, his days were filled with work and he found Barry to be great company on the bridge, but that time after work? Where most of the crew was able to let their hair down a little? It was getting stale. He had gone through a number of books so far, but reading while on a rocking ship was less than ideal.

More than anything, Dan ached to write a letter to his family, detailing them on his journeys so far, including that time someone nearly got thrown overboard, but he had been assured that sending a letter would not be possible for a long time. A month, maybe two. He tried to not think too hard about that.

Dan sighed and leaned back onto his bunk, staring up at the ceiling. He was free from night watch that evening, an extremely rare occurrence, and should be taking advantage of the extra sleep, but that was the thing. He didn’t want to. He wanted to go out and do something, or talk to someone.

After a moment of contemplation, Dan heaved himself out of bed. Maybe he could hunt down Ross and bug him for a bit. Maybe Arin if he wasn’t busy.

As he was the first mate, Dan had rarely spent any one on one time with Arin. Of those few instances, though, he and Arin got along swimmingly. They had a similar sense of humor and Arin was easy to talk to.

Captain Wecht, on the other hand, Dan had limited experience with. After that initial run in with him a few weeks ago, Dan hadn’t talked to him again. From Dan’s observations, Captain Wecht preferred to sit on the sidelines, watching. He rarely spoke to anyone but Arin, and, in all the times Dan had seen him, he had never smiled. It was a tiny bit weird, but hey, it wasn’t any of his business.

Dan made his way to the galley, where hopefully at least a couple people would be hanging around. The ships walls groaned and creaked, as the boat rocked, making Dan feel a bit uneasy. He didn’t know if he would ever get used to that.

When he reached the doorway to the galley, he stopped in his tracks. In the center of the room, tables had been pushed together and there were people crowded around it, all laughing and talking. Playing cards and chips were strewn about the table as well. They were playing poker, it seemed, but Dan didn’t know much about card games.

Among this group of people was Arin, sitting at what seemed to be the head of the table, dealing cards out to the players. Sitting to his left was Captain Wecht. However, counter to his everyday look, Captain Wecht was laughing and smiling, nudging Arin with his elbow. Arin just rolled his eyes in response to whatever Captain Wecht had said.

Captain Wecht’s smile seemed to light up his whole face, the corner of his eyes crinkling up and eyes shining. He threw his head back and laughed, reaching forward to grab the pile of chips in the middle of the table. Man, he was attractive. Dan felt rooted to the spot, eyes wide and face flushed.

Arin looked up then, making eye contact with Dan. Dan’s blush intensified. They stayed like that for a few seconds before Arin raised an eyebrow at him.

After a moment or two, Dan managed to regain control of this brain, turning around and walking right out of the room, making a beeline for his bunk. The last thing he needed was to develop a crush on his captain. This couldn’t happen, nope. Not at all.

What he didn’t see was Arin watching him as he left, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

* * *

A week or so later, Dan was standing on the bridge, looking over a map Ross had recently provided. Barry was off to the side, speaking to Captain Wecht, the captain nodding along. Dan took a deep breath and tried to focus on anything but that.

He wished he had someone to talk to about all of this. But he wasn’t close enough to anyone to feel comfortable sharing his troubles, especially about something like this. Back home he had people he knew, people he trusted. Here, he had no one.

Dan frowned. Here he was, on a boat in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by people at all times of the day, yet the loneliness was suffocating him. The wall he had put up to keep himself from thinking of home seemed to be breaking, and could feel the need to cry welling up in his throat.

He took a deep breath and rolled up the map carefully, hands shaking. He needed to leave. The last thing he wanted was to have a breakdown in front of a bunch of people, especially the captain. He stowed the map back inside the tube it came in and nearly bolted out the door, ignoring the call of “Dan?” from Barry behind him.

People watched him curiously as he sped toward his room as fast as he could. He ignored them.

The moment Dan closed the door to his room, a choked sob came out through his mouth. He collapsed onto the bed, head in his hands, willing everything within him to just calm down. He was a grown man, he should be able to handle this. He had been through worse before. His chest heaved with muffled sobs, and he took shaky, deep breaths.

Once he was beginning to calm down, there was a knock at the door. Another spike of anxiety flared up in Dan’s chest, but he stood up to answer it anyway.

Standing on the other side of the door was Captain Wecht, eyebrows furrowed, with an unreadable expression in his eyes.

Dan immediately stood up straighter and cleared his throat.

“Captain, I-”

“Can I come in?” he asked, looking over Dan’s shoulder and into the room.

“Uh. Yes. Yes, of course,” Dan said, taking a step back, wiping his eyes as Captain Wecht walked past him into the room, taking a seat on Dan’s roommate’s bed. He eyed Dan expectantly. Having all of the captain’s attention on him was… overwhelming. “Listen, Captain Wecht, I’m really sorry about walking out back there. I had a… moment, and it was extremely inappropriate for me to have walked out like that. I’m very sorry, it won’t happen again.”

Captain Wecht’s expression had not changed. “Avidan. First, you can call me Brian while off duty. Now, as ship’s captain, it is my duty to make sure my crew is performing in the best way they can be. That means making sure everyone is physically, and mentally, okay. I wanted to check in with you and see if you were alright. Running out is the least of my worries. I’m more concerned with what caused that,” he said.

Dan stared at the ca- Brian in shock, due to the fact that he was this concerned about his crew, let alone Dan specifically. Brian looked at him and raised an eyebrow when Dan didn’t respond immediately. Dan took a deep breath and sat down on his own bed across from the captain.

“I’m not used to being away from my family for this long. I’m used to being around people I know well and always having someone to talk to, to confide in. Here, I don’t have that, and it just got a little overwhelming,” Dan said quietly. He couldn’t look Brian in the eye, just kept his gaze on his shoes.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you sign up to join my crew? This seems to be the exact opposite of where you belong,” Brian asked.

“I needed money. Work opportunities were becoming scarce back home, and I needed something. This seemed like the best I was going to that. No offense to you, or anything,” Dan said, then immediately looked up, scared he had come off as rude.

Brian chuckled. “None taken.” He was quiet for a moment, looking at his own lap, then back up to Dan. “Listen. I… can’t say that I’ve been where you are, as I have been on the sea for many years now, but I want to let you know that on this ship, you’re not alone. There are plenty of people you can talk to. Hanson is a great listener, as you no doubt have found out. And I’m here too. I know I’m not the most approachable at first, but if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

Dan was staring at Brian with something akin to heart eyes. He was still a bit confused, reeling from the dramatic shift of the cold, brooding captain he thought Brian to be to the apparent softie he really was, but appreciative nonetheless.

“I- Thank you. It really means a lot to me,” Dan said, at a loss for words, giving Brian a small smile as thanks.

Brian smiled and stood up, giving Dan a pat on the shoulder. “Take the rest of the day off if you need. I’ll have Hanson come check on you later.” He then walked to the door, then turned around. “See you at dinner, Avidan,” he said before turning around and leaving the room.

Dan stared at the door for a moment before sighing and flopping back onto the bed, heart pounding. He was screwed.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are appreciated!


End file.
